Do I Have What It Takes To Be a Big Time Credit Card Churner?

Vacations are my absolute favorite way to spend my money. If I had to choose between fabulous clothes every season, a new car, or a vacation every year, I’d pick the vacation hands down. Vacations are even better when you can get them for free or almost free. After getting most of our summer vacation paid for by credit card rewards, I’m pretty opposed to spending money from my own pocket if I can continue to get travel for free, but man, sometimes it takes work to be a big time credit card churner. I’m not sure if I have what it takes.

Chase Ink Business Card

I recently applied for the Chase Ink Bold charge card for Eyes on the Dollar. This card is for businesses, and I thought I would see if my humble blog could qualify for it’s own card. I refuse to lie and make up a business, although I know lots of people probably do this to get specific reward cards. I’m not entirely sure that the credit card companies mind, but I am a by the rules girl, so I can’t lie. I did get approved, probably more because of my credit score than blog income, but regardless, I now have the card.

The reason I wanted this card was because of a 60,000 point bonus promotion that came after spending $5000 within three months. That’s worth $750 in travel or $600 cash! Now, I know that I would have no trouble spending $5000 if I used this card in my optometry practice, but I wanted to keep this one separate. I would normall try to avoid spending this much in credit card charges, but I knew we had some big expenses that had to be paid.

Bonus Points for Paying Bills

We just got the bill for our emergency room visit in April.That one was a 4 figure zinger. We had to get new tires for our truck. I also decided to get our airline tickets to visit my family at Christmas. Those are crazy expensive, but it’s an expense we have chosen to have. My mother goes into a depression if we don’t make it sometime during the holidays.

Anyway, I figured with all those things coming up plus other routine expenses, it was a good time to get some extra points for paying the bills. I honestly don’t pay as much attention to bonus points categories with reward cards as I should, but the bells and whistles went off in my head when we were at Office Depot recently. We don’t tend to shop there because there isn’t one in our hometown, but Jim had to get some things for work, and you get 5x points for purchases at office supply stores if you use the Chase Ink.

Office Supply Store Bonus Bonanza!

While Jim was picking out his stuff, I saw that Office Depot carried Southwest Airlines gift cards. I had already priced out tickets for Christmas on Southwest, but hadn’t purchased them. Could I buy enough gift cards to cover the expense and get 5x points instead of the standard 2x points for travel?

I needed $1000 in gift cards, so I asked what the daily limit for purchase was. The clerk told me $10,000. We’re good to go! The cards only came in $50 or $100 denominations. I picked up 10 of the $100 cards and went to pay.

It Seemed Like a Good Plan

Well, it was a good plan, but the gift cards kept locking up the cash register. Luckily, I had a patient clerk who kept trying different ways to make it work. We finally had to split it into three transactions, and the register would not accept my 10th card, so I had to get two $50 ones instead. My check out took about 30 minutes and made a few customers in line a bit antsy, but oh well, got my 5000 points!

That evening I sat down to book out tickets before the price went up, only to find that you are only able to use four different forms of payment for each reservation. I ended up having to book two separate round trip tickets for myself and daughter and two one way reservations for Jim to use all the gift cards. That took about two hours to figure out and get finished. We are all ticketed on the same flights, we just have different confirmation numbers.

Are Bonus Points Worth the Extra Time?

Was the extra time worth 3000 extra bonus points? Right now, I would say no. It was extremely frustrating, and I certainly had better things I could have done with my time. However, if I am trying to get a free room on a fun vacation and those 3000 points put me over the top, I’ll probably change my mind.

As a disclaimer, I have to remind you not to get carried away by the chance for bonus points. If you spend money on things you don’t need, it’s never a good deal. If you can’t pay off your balance in full every month, it’s a terrible deal. While it made me throw up in my mouth a little to pay the hospital over $1000 for an hour of time, it was money I already had saved and knew had to be paid, so why not get some extra points?

If you want to be a big time player in the credit card churning business, you have to think about how to maximize your points. That doesn’t mean spending extra money, but it might mean buying gift cards at the office supply store to get bonus points on something you needed to buy anyway. It does mean extra time. It means not always using the easiest means to make a purchase. I’m not sure if I have what it takes, but I really like free vacations, so I’m sure there is a balance in there somewhere.

What is the craziest way you’ve ever earned reward points? Have you ever locked up a cash register?

I received no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this post. If you want your own free money, don’t forget enter the giveaways for $100 or $900!

I’ve never personally never done credit card churning but it seems like a lot of people are on to it. I guess if you are going to be spending that amount any way it makes sense to make some money from it. I just tend to think that people will go overboard and spend more then they normally would just to get those points.Thomas | Your Daily Finance recently posted..Watch Your Wallet – Saving money and losing weight

I haven’t been using my rewards card much lately. I am worried I’ll charge too much and not be able to pay it back. I like the idea of churning credit cards but I do think at times it can be too time consuming. Kind of like couponing.Alexa recently posted..Family, Money, & Greed: A Recipe for Lost Relationships Part 2

Hmmm that does sound like a lot of work, but there are worse things you can do with your time. Credit card churning is something I really want to look into, and I have heard some really good success stories from people. I guess I’ll just have to try it myself sometime and see how it goes!DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted..Tips on Dealing with a Difficult Manager

As you know, we’ve (well I ) have become addicted to earning rewards points. Thankfully we did not have to do any crazy spending and came at a time where we had a lot of expenses coming anyway. My wife has actually asked me a few times if we’re “done” yet, Lol! However, that trip in January will be so worth it!John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..What’s a Favorite Thing That Money Has Allowed You to do?

I am nervous about having too many cards open, so would rather stick to a few rewards cards we use on regular basis – usually just 3 for different types of stores. And even that confuses my husband sometimes :-). We get about $2500 cash back a year and that’s good enough for us

I had to smile a bit though when you said the trip was going to be crazy expensive and then the tickets were $1000, I was thinking in different terms. Our families live in Europe, in 2 different countries (no direct flights to any of those locations), so each time we go even with the most creative and flexible booking it’s $6000+ for us and the 2 kids. At least we’ve agreed that we’ll visit only every second year.

The tickets ended up being just over $1500. I guess I should rethink crazy expensive, but it seems crazy to pay that much for a two and a half hour flight. I’m very jealous of people who live near hubs and can get $200 round trip tickets to just about any major city in the US. If we had to travel abroad, that would surely be crazy expensive and we certainly couldn’t do it twice a year!

I’m starting to get into it a lot more, but I have a hard time knowing which things I should buy with which cards to get the max benefit. I did just sign up with a Hyatt card where you get two free nights after spending 1k, which I hope to go towards my stay at Fincon. If not I guess some other kind of travel, but I mostly use my southwest credit card for purchases since I think I’ve put that one to good use. But I wonder if I’m maximizing my spending and if there is another card I should be using. It’s a whole new ballgame out there for this kind of stuff! And if you’re good at it, like Jake at Iheartbudgets, you could get a whole lot for free!Budget and the Beach recently posted..Oprah & the $40,000 Handbag

That was a smart idea to get the Southwest gift cards, although I’m sorry it didn’t go quite as smoothly as you wanted! I absolutely love and enjoy reward cards but I don’t actively churn – open additional cards just for the reward points. I think if you do it right it can be incredibly lucrative but as you said, you have to only buy things you would anyway and pay off the bill every month. Credit cards can be a bit like gambling or any addiction. Some people can use them as a tool while others will fall back into old habits. I guess you just need to know which side you fall on.Shannon @ The Heavy Purse recently posted..Back-To-School Survival Plan in 4 Easy Steps

I’ve never actually ventured down this route, perhaps because the rewards don’t seem as good over here in the UK. I haven’t checked in a while though, maybe it’s time to take another look.Adam @ Money Bulldog recently posted..Common Investing Mistakes and How to Overcome Them

I applied and received a business and personal credit card for my wife and me. Sure, I accumulated a lot of miles, but it was a nightmare to manage. I do it occasionally to rack up the miles for overseas trips.krantcents recently posted..Most asked Job Interview Questions and How to Answer them

I know this is a valid strategy many use to earn reward points. Seems like it works from the many posts I’ve read about it. I don’t use credit cards, nor do I think I would want to put in the time to churn them over and over again.Brian @ Luke1428 recently posted..Is the Effort to Get Rich Worth It?

I use credit cards that are paid off monthly in full for the points, but I do not spend my time looking for outlets to increase my points unless there is an obvious and non-time consuming opportunity to. Life is complicated enough as it is, and my brain is cluttered as is.Snarkfinance recently posted..Personal Finance Articles I Read This Week That Didn’t Suck, August 9th

I got into churning just last year. $5,000 is a bit tough to get to…but I guess buying that amount of gift cards is tough. Maybe buy prepaid cards where you can use it as cash to avoid the problem with booking the flight with gift cards. Another possibility to meet the spend requirement is to use Amazon Payments, but there is a $1000 a month limit. I also pay my phone bills and put other spending on the card.Andrew@LivingRichCheaply recently posted..Why Invest in Index Funds?

I really only started this hobby after we paid off all our credit card debt last fall, so I’m not quite at the one year mark yet. I think every card you apply for takes about 5 points off your credit score, but it goes back up within about 6 weeks. I will likely cancel the ones with an annual fee unless it’s something that is worth the fee, like I think the Ink Bold card will be. I think as long as you have more than one card with pretty high limits, cancelling one or two doesn’t do much. If you only have one or two cards, it would likely lower the score. I don’t plan to apply for a loan anytime soon if ever. If you do need to finance something, I would not apply for any new cards for two years beforehand.

I love this idea of credit card churning, but I’m not sure I’m disciplined enough for it yet, it’s going to take some practice. I love that you locked up a cash register! It makes me feel a little better that my movie gift certificates confused the kid at the window and he had to re-do my transaction three times, holding up a blockbuster movie on opening week Friday night! So you aren’t quite alone!

Although dangerous for people in debt (or with a propensity to get into debt) credit card churning can be a great way to effectively reduce expenditure. Also, if you keep them opening, they improve your credit rating should you ever need it.

Like EOTD on Facebook!

Disclaimer

I am by no means a financial expert. While, I have had extensive training in vision and eye health, I have had no formal financial education. All content published here is my own personal experience or opinion. Please research your own financial decisions and act accordingly. This blog does have financial relationships with some of the services and websites that are promoted. Eyes on the Dollar is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.